South Kaduna: When shall justice prevail?
Editor’s note: Nicholas Oluwaseyi, the NAIJ.com partner blogger, examines the issues surrounding the killings that had happened in Kaduna, especially the southern part of the state since 2011
Nicholas Oluwaseyi is a young medical student whom God has favoured and committed a great vision of seeing mankind turn into eternal HOPE. He could be reached through his e-mail nicholasoluwaseyi6@gmail.com. You can also follow his blog https://hopecitadel.wordpress.com.
More details in NAIJ.com’s step-by-step guide for guest bloggers.
Since the 2011 post-election violence that hit some states in northern part of the country, the violence has become escalated.
In that crisis, Kaduna state had the major casualties and the southern part of the state has continued to witness incessant attacks lately. Goska village of the Southern Kaduna suffered another major attack on the Christmas Eve. They were, according to the widespread culture in the country to be killing their Christmas chickens when they themselves were turned to the chickens and killed.
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The Christian community had said that 808 people have been killed and 1422 houses, 16 churches, 19 shops, and one primary school destroyed, since the crises took off.
No doubt, the entire community of Southern Kaduna is currently facing one of the greatest tragedies in history. The lives of those lost might not have been well valued granting the responses the Federal and State Governments have issued.
Their lives might not be granted an international attention but it remains a concern as injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." Martin Luther King Jnr said.
In a time like this, the entire community had been betrayed by the same people they voted for. The silence of Mr. President is a big betrayal and such shouldn't come in this kind of time. If Mr. President shouldn't respond to every issues as some said, then Mr. President don't need the votes of everyone.
Our own President sends messages here and there to international communities but in one of the greatest tragedies that have hit the Kaduna community he has chosen to be silent. There's an urgency of now and the leader has failed to react. One of the greatest leadership lessons a leader can learn is to touch a heart before asking for a hand!
"We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy…. It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. " Martin Luther King, Jr., “I Have a Dream”, 28 August 1963, steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C.
In a time of deep sorrow like this, I know one of the questions that could be going on the minds of these depressed people is - Is there any Hope? There is no any hope but there's a hope. This is to all the Kaduna brethren:
The trauma is not a life sentence
This trauma is a certain kind of suffering, a kind that pierces through the entire body and leaves one's ability to cope in question. But this trauma is not a life sentence I can assure you. It might have crippled you, brought you down and buries itself deep into your conscious thinking.
The trauma is too heavy for anyone to carry; it's too heavy for me and everyone out there but you people are still living and carrying the burden everyday of your life - truly you're heroes. You might not have been to the warfront, but you're fighting one of the greatest fights a human person can fight, you're fighting in the battle field of the mind.
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The military men face the physical trauma at war but you've been brought to face two kinds of trauma - physical and psychological. You're fighting against a trauma that happened in the past but will everyday asserts itself over and over again. I've been to the mountaintop and I've seen that you've won this battle. You're heroes.
Your entire community have been rejected, betrayed and forgotten by those you trusted but remember the stone the builder rejected became the cornerstone. From the seeds of this sadness shall folds of joy erupt.
God is not deaf to your traumas. He might not be acting as you would have wanted but he knows greater than you do. God hears you and will not forget the lives of your lost loved ones, your pain of loss, your sadness of displacement, your sleepless nights amidst many more you've suffered.
With all assurance, what you demand from Mr. President - justice and light into this issue, shall He bring one day. One day, God shall bring all of it into the light. Remember, the light shines and darkness comprehended it not.
Through this pain, everyone out there will be coming with "helps”. A large number telling you time heals everything. But that's a deceit; time can't carry the weight of this trauma. It's time to switch to a higher source of Hope. Do not cover and hide these pains. God wants you to come to Him with your honest and painful details of the trauma.
I want you to know you're not alone in this. Yours isn't the first and probably won't be the last in this perverse world. People are in Syria fighting too, the Jews are also facing trauma over the new UN resolution, lots of people out there like you who are not granted international attention.
The British government went through depression and won, America grew through 9/11, Nelson Mandela's South Africa fought and won, you're not alone. Your brother in faith, Paul, also spoke of his own traumas:
Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea.
I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers.
I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.
Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?
If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, know that I am not lying. In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me. But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands.
2 Corinthians 11: 24-33
I know your body system is processing a type of trigger. A "trigger" comes when the past interrupt the present unconsciously. Our body system naturally processes this kind of response in time of pain.
We all may not know until it's been triggered. Pains like this leave us been overprotective, we just begin to feel incessantly unsafe everywhere we are. It's a kind of trigger. This natural trigger is neither good nor evil. This trigger makes you think there's danger everywhere, even when there's none. We begin to develop a closed mind.
A closed mind might lead to further pain and hurt and could bring us to say that everything in life is meaningless. But if everything in life is meaningless, isn't saying the statement also meaningless? That means those kinds of words aren't the truth we need through this kind of pain. The truth doesn't negate itself.
This kind of trauma can either tender or harden your hearts. It's not time to step out in hatred. Hatred can't fight hatred. Truly, beware when stepping out and watch your movements but never submit to the prison of your fears but win over it.
You mustn't start feeling guilty that you caused this by not being watchful enough. Within the community, blame game might want to erupt, but never blame anyone for this.
For your lost loved ones, your "loss" is an answer to the prayer of your saviour - Jesus (John 17:24). Yes, you've lost them and you wouldn't be able to share the sweet fellowship with them again but there's a hope beyond the grave.
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You can shed tears to fill the buckets but there's a hope in this kind of situation. Those streams of tears rolling down your cheeks can glisten with joy when you realize the loss of your loved ones is nothing but an answered prayer to the Savior's prayer (John 17:24) and one day you will see again.
This is a spirit filled Hope in this midst of sober realism. Happy New Year to everyone!
Nicholas Oluwaseyi is a young medical student whom God has favoured and committed a great vision of seeing mankind turn into eternal HOPE. He could be reached through his e-mail nicholasoluwaseyi6@gmail.com. You can also follow his blog https://hopecitadel.wordpress.com.
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